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Court-Imposed Waiver of the Joint-Defense Privilege

Most defense attorneys enter into joint-defense agreements with the understanding that even if one of the signatories decides to withdraw from the agreement and cooperate with the government, the confidentiality provisions survive. Two recent decisions ' by the Eleventh Circuit and the Northern District of California ' have called provisions like these into question: <i>United States v. Almeida</i>, 341 F.3d 1318 (11th Cir. 2003); and <i>United States v. Stepney</i>, 246 F. Supp.2d 1069 (N.D. Cal. 2003). Any defense attorney who is considering entering into such an agreement should think twice &amp;emdash; especially if some party may choose, down the road, to cooperate with the government.

19 minute read November 01, 2003 at 09:45 AM
By
Jacqueline C. Wolff and Alan Vinegrad
Court-Imposed Waiver of the Joint-Defense Privilege

Most defense attorneys enter into joint-defense agreements with the understanding that even if one of the signatories decides to withdraw from the agreement and cooperate with the government, the confidentiality provisions survive.

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